Hosny Abd Rabo

Hosni Abd Rabo
Personal information
Full name	Hosny Abd Rabo Abdel Mottaleb Ibrahim
Date of birth	1 November 1984 (age 39)
Place of birth	Ismaïlia, Egypt
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Ismaily
Number	12
Youth career
	Ismaily
Senior career*
Years	Team
2002–2005	Ismaily
2005–2007	Strasbourg
2006–2007	→Ismaily (loan)
2007–	Ismaily
2008–2009	→ Ahli Dubai (loan)
2012	→Al-Ittihad Jeddah (loan)
2012–2013	→Al Nassr (loan)
International career‡
2003	Egypt U20
2004–2014	Egypt
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 1 July 2007; ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 10 September 2014

Hosny Abd Rabo Abdel Mottaleb Ibrahim (Arabic: حسني عبد ربه عبد المطلب إبراهيم; born 1 November 1984) is an Egyptian professionalfootballer, who currently plays as a defensive midfielder for Ismaily SC. Hosny also plays for the Egypt national football team and was a member of the 2008 African Nations Cup winning team, as well as being chosen as Player of the Tournament.

Club career

Ismaily

Hosny started his professional football career at Ismaily in Egypt, and was the youngest player in the Egyptian first division when Ismaily won the League Championship in the season 2001–02. In 2003, Hosni joined the Egyptian U-20's in the FIFA World Youth Championship 2003 in the Arab Emirates. In this tournament he caught the eyes of big clubs in Europe such as Juventus, Trabzonspor, Arsenal, and also smaller sides such as Nantes, and Strasbourg, but his club Ismaily refused to sell the player, since he was considered an integral part of the team.

At the end of 2003, he played in the Arabian Club Championship final but lost, achieving the same result in the 2003 African Champions League. In 2004 Hosny was selected for the first time in his career to play for the Egyptian national team in the 2004 African Cup of Nations in Tunisia and was one of the youngest players in the tournament.

He re-joined Ismaily in January 2011.

RC Strasbourg

In summer 2005, Hosny signed a five-year contract with French club RC Strasbourg, for whom he appeared in 22 Ligue 1 matches.^[1] He was called up for the Egyptian national team that would participate in the 2006 African Cup of Nations in Egypt, but was injured just one week before the tournament started and could not play. The Egyptian national team eventually went on to win the tournament against Côte d'Ivoire.

Return to Ismaily

In the 2005–06 season, Strasbourg was relegated to Ligue 2. Hosny then left the team on a season loan deal, returning to his original club Ismaily.

Due to his impressive performance with the Egyptian national team in the 2008 African Cup of Nations tournament, with the player chosen as Player of the Tournament.

After the loan spell ended, and since Strasbourg failed to promote to Ligue 1, Hosny agreed to extend his stay at Ismaily on a permanent deal. However, this move did not receive consent from the French club, and they decided to sue the player for signing a contract with another club without their consent.

Ahli Dubai

On 29 July 2008, and in an unexpected move, it was announced that Hosny had signed a loan deal for two seasons for Emirate club Al-Ahli of Dubai, despite the player having been linked with offers from top European clubs in England and Spain. Ismaily club later announced that the only official offer they received, other than Ahli Dubai's offer, was from Spanish club Osasuna.

It was considered a surprise to the player's fans and to Egyptian fans in general that the player would move to an Emirate club rather than a top European club, especially after Hosny's good performances in the Africa Cup of Nations Ghana 2008 for which he won Player of the Tournament award.

Immediately after the player's move was made public, officials in Egyptian Premier League club Al-Ahly announced that they intend to sue Hosny for moving to Ahli Dubai, despite having earlier signed a contract for them.

Al Nassr FC

On 2 July 2012, Hosny signed a one-year loan deal with Saudi club Al Nassr FC.

International career

Hosny made his debut for the Egyptian national team against Sudan on 6 June 2004. He was called for the Egyptian national team for the 2006 African Cup of Nations held in Egypt, but was injured one week before the tournament started and was consequently excluded from the tournament squad. As a member of the National Team, he won The 11th Pan Arabic Games held in Egypt in 2007. He was the key player in the Egyptian team that won the 2008 African Cup of Nations, and scored 4 goals, made 2 assists, excelled in defense, midfield and in attack, and was named Player of the Tournament.

2008 African Cup of Nations

Hosny scored 2 goals in the first match against Cameroon, one from a penalty. Although the referee repeated it he also scored from it, And in each time the keeper went in the other direction of the ball. The second goal was 36 m away from the Goal line. In the second match against Sudan Hosny entered the 18-area passed the keeper but was tackled so gained a Penalty kick where he scored, although the referee repeated it, Also Hosny scored a goal. Hosny also assisted the third goal for Abo Trieka.

His performance with national team encouraged French football magazine L'Equipe to publish a report about him saying that he led his team defensively and offensively and was like a Maestro in Midfield with his accurate passes and hard shots and great effort.

Kalocha Boalya stated that Hosny contributions in scoring goals, making assists and holding the team together as he could defend and attack and exist inside penalty area so can hit the post with a very good header in the final although he is a defending midfielder nominated him to win the award.

Shata stated that Hosny fulfilled all the conditions present in the complete player, he is goal scorer, shooter, Play maker, and has good manner and leading character.

The overall performance of Hosny made him the first nominate for winning the golden ball of the tournament as he scored 4 Goals, made two assists, winning Man of the Match twice, excelled in defending and attacking and controlling the rhythm of the play, as a leader for his team qualified him to pick up The Player of the Tournament award ahead of Ivorian Didier Drogba of Chelsea FC and Ghanaian Michael Essien of Chelsea FC and Cameronian Samuel Eto of Barcelona FC and Ivorian Kieta and Malian Diara of Real Madrid.

International goals

Scores and results list Egypt's goal tally first.^[2]

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	2 September 2006	Cairo International Stadium, Cairo	Burundi	2–0	4–1	2008 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
2.	10 January 2008	Al-Nahyan Stadium, Abu Dhabi	Mali	1–0	1–0	Friendly
3.	22 January 2008	Baba Yara Stadium, Kumasi	Cameroon	1–0	4–2	2008 Africa Cup of Nations
4.	22 January 2008	Baba Yara Stadium, Kumasi	Cameroon	4–1	4–2	2008 Africa Cup of Nations
5.	26 January 2008	Baba Yara Stadium, Kumasi	Sudan	1–0	3–0	2008 Africa Cup of Nations
6.	4 February 2008	Baba Yara Stadium, Kumasi	Angola	1–0	2–1	2008 Africa Cup of Nations
7.	6 June 2008	Stade du Ville, Djibouti	Djibouti	2–0	4–0	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
8.	19 November 2008	Cairo International Stadium, Cairo	Benin	1–0	5–1	Friendly
9.	5 July 2009	Military Academy Stadium, Cairo	Rwanda	2–0	3–0	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
10.	12 August 2009	Cairo International Stadium, Cairo	Guinea	1–0	3–3	Friendly
11.	12 August 2009	Cairo International Stadium, Cairo	Guinea	2–1	3–3	Friendly
12.	10 October 2009	Konkola Stadium, Chililabombwe	Zambia	1–0	1–0	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
13.	29 December 2009	Cairo International Stadium, Cairo	Malawi	1–0	1–1	Friendly
14.	28 January 2010	Complexo da Sr. da Graça, Benguela	Algeria	1–0	4–0	2010 Africa Cup of Nations
15.	29 February 2012	Thani bin Jassim Stadium, Doha	Niger	1–0	1–0	Friendly
16.	26 March 2013	Borg El Arab Stadium, Alexandria	Zimbabwe	1–0	2–1	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification